1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for making from a plane image an image which can be perceived by a user as a 3D (three-dimensional) object.
2. Description of the Related Art
By providing two images having a mutual parallax, and making a user view one image with his/her left eye and the other with the right eye, the image can be perceived as a 3D image by the user. A process for making such images having a mutual parallax (which is called “3D vision image set” hereafter) from a plane image is proposed, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication 2002-123842. In the technology, the 3D vision image set is produced by using various parameters such as depth of an image to be perceived by the user who views the images.
It would be convenient, when using the above technology, if the user could select his/her preferable values of those various parameters to be used for producing 3D vision image set, so that he/she can generate an image having his/her favorite 3D effect. However, when such a construction to be applied to the above technology, it is necessary for the user to indicate the parameter(s) in each 3D transformation process with regard to a plane image, which is a cumbersome task for the user to perform. Especially, when the 3D transformation process is carried out for a moving picture comprising plural continuous images, the user is required to indicate the parameter(s) for each of the plural continuous images, and such tasks are extremely cumbersome for the user.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above circumstances and is established to provide an image processing apparatus, an image pickup device, and a program for reducing the burden on the user of having to input various parameters in the 3D image transformation process.